Crimson Arts was recently flown to New York to speak with the David Twohy, the director of Pitch Black, and the stars of his films, Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, and Cole Hauser.

The Harvard Crimson: Mr. Twohy, what kinds of changes did you make to the script and the production after you signed on to the project?

David Twohy: Interscope told me they had a script with an interesting concept-a ship crash lands on a planet, there doesn't appear to be any life at first, but then we find that the life is nocturnal. Actually, in the early drafts, we had a female convict. I was tired of movies like Lost in Space and Starship Troopers; they're basically just white guys in space. I like the Muslim contingent in the movie. They're devout Muslims, and they're not terrorists.

I take my hat off to the studio. Usually studios feel the need for a big name in each role. Also, just because you have that sci-fi premise doesn't mean that you have to have stock characters. We have the archetypal characters, but the characters change and evolve. Sci-fi is such a familiar arena and yet you don't know what's going on. You think you know how it's going to happen, but the hero of the movie changes. We're juggling with your notions of what is a hero, and what is not a hero. We were going in here and mixing it all up-not your typical sci-fi.

Vin Diesel: I think one object of the film that makes it different than other sci-fi films is that we wanted the story to stand independent of the sci-fi elements, like the creatures. That's what made the movie so attractive to me: it exposes people's humanity. It's exploration in order to expose.

THC: Was it a fun experience, making this film?

VD: I had a lot of fun, yeah. We shot in the outback of Australia, which is the antithesis of New York, where I grew up. It's a beautiful, celestial place, an aboriginal sacred ground. We had to work collectively to make it all work, though.

Cole Hauser: We definitely had to train before making the film. We got there a month early to do things like rugby running. It was very crucial to be in great shape-for all the stunts and fights, we all needed to be in tip-top shape. As hard as it was, we needed strength mentally and physically.

THC: There's a scene in the movie where you have to shoot yourself up in the eye. How close was that needle?

Hauser: The first take, I actually hit my eyeball with the needle. It was a retractable needle, but it was in interesting experience. David [Twohy] was directing me with the camera directly in my face, saying, left, right, wait, a little to the left-things like that. A couple times he told me, Cole, you don't really have to do this, but I wanted to do it. I wanted to make the audience see that it was my eye-I wanted to do it for the effect it would have on the audience. It's part of Johns character; he's kind of out there.

THC: How did you approach the two layers of Fry's character, the need for her to be both vulnerable and strong?